Combined typewriting and computing machine  x



H. L. PITMAN July 29, 1941.

` COMBINED TYPEWRITING AND COMPUTING MACHINE!- Filed Sept` '7, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet l .HQ 2, v//A/.M e

ATTORNEY July 29, 1941. H. L.. P11-MAN COMBINED TYPEWRITING AND COMPUTING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Shea?l 2 Filed Sept. 7, 1958 ATTORNEY July 29, 1941. l H, 1 PHTMAN 2,251,165

vCOMBINED TYPEWRITING AND COMPUTING MACHINE Filed Sept. '7, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 s @x D N N n .s cs sg.-

Patented July 29, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COMBINED TYPEWRITING AND COMPUTING MACHINE Application September 7, 1938, Serial No. 228,77)

(Cl. 235-G{I) 1 Claim.

This invention relates to a combined typewriting and computing machine of the class exemplied in my Patent No. 1,927,951, and involves improvements over the mechanism shown in my colpending application Serial No. 654,057 led January 28, 1933, concerning means, in English money register mechanism, whereby a pence bar having settable index pins is movable eleven steps concomitantly with a lesser or nine step movement of a general operator.

1n said application, an auxiliary pence bar driving medium is connected to the general operator by a lever so that said medium is movable relatively to and along with the general operator. When the general operator is within, say, two steps of the end of its nine step advance, said lever encounters a stop so that it is caused to be rocked by and during the remainder of the general operator advance. Thus, during said two step or less remainder of the general operator advance, said pence bar driving medium is speeded up relatively to the general operator in order to advance the pence bar the requisite extra distance beyond the advance of the general operator. It results that the pence bar is moving at comparatively high speed at the moment its advance is completed and arrested.

The stop encountered by said lever is shiftable under control of a carry-over device from a computing wheel of lower denomination and when shifted causes the lever to be rocked more than normally so that said pence bar is advanced a carry-over step in addition to its normal extra advance ahead of the general operator.

An object of the present invention is to avoid such high or excessive speed of the pence bar at the moment of its arrest and thereby conduce to reliably accurate and quiet operation of the register mechanism and to durability of its parts.

The invention, therefore, provides means whereby said lever is caused to be rocked by and during a comparatively greater part of the general operator advance movement, and said means may be adapted so that said lever is rocked gradually during substantially the whole of the general operator advance of nine steps.

To this end the lever may ride along a cam tack which. may be coextensive with the nine step general operator advance and which cam track thus effects a gradual rocking of said lever, during said nine step general operator advance, to the extent oi advancing the pence bar the normal extra distance.

The aforesaid stop may be retained and when shifted by means of the carry-over device may encounter said lever and cause it to be rocked, for a carry-over step, independently of said cam track near the end of the general operator ad- Vance.

Other features. and advantages will hereinalter appear.

Figure 1 is a cross sectional side elevation of the machine embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevation showing the general operator, the pence bar driving medium, the lever, and other parts in normal positions, and also showing the cam track for controlling said lever.

Figure 3 is a side elevation showing the general operator advanced to the point where said medium is about to pick up the pence bar.

Figure 4 is a side elevation showing the general operator at the end of its advance and the pence bar advanced the extra distance by means of said medium, lever and cam track.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary perspective showing details of the lever and the cam track.

Figure 6 is a perspective of the register mechanism and the pence bar advance controlling means.

Figure 7 is a side elevation showing the pence bar advanced a carry-over step beyond its normal extra advance ahead of the general operator.

A typewriter T surmounts a computing base CB containing an English money or sterling computing mechanism comprising, Figure 6, a farthings pinion IB, a pence pinion II, two coupled shillings pinions I2 and pounds pinions I3. Said computing pinions normally stand disengaged, Figure 2, from drive racks Ie, and idlers I5 permanently in mesh with said racks, and said pinions are shiftable downwardly to engage said racks for addition or rearwardly to engage said idlers for subtraction. The rack Ill for the pence denomination is part or" a pence bar Iii carrying twelve downwardly settable pence indexing pins IIfrom 0r to 11. Other bars I8 present the racks I!! 4for the other denominations of the register and are each provided with a suitable number of index pins ISI. The bars I6 and I8 are mounted for forward and return movements in guides 29, 2|, Figure 1, mounted in the framework.

At operation of numeral type key levers 22, a typing carriage 23 advances in letter-feeding steps under control of an escapement mechanism 24 and urged by a spring motor 25. At a computing Zone, said carriage traverses a set of denominational jacks 26 operative through mechanism 21 to advance the bars I6, I8 seriatim to bring their index pins under pin setting bars 29 that are selectively depressible through operation of said numeral type key levers 22, the latter having pendent rods 30 to actuate pin setting mechanism 3| that comprises said bars 29. Said mechanism 21 is of the kind disclosed in my United States Patent No. 2,090,852.

Following the operation of the key levers 22 to type an amount and concomitantly set corresponding index pins in said bars I6, I8, a reciprocatory general operator is cycled to drive said bars forwardly to enter said amount in the computing pinions I D-I 3. Said general operator may be of the character shown in said Patent No. 1,927,951 and comprises a reciprocatory cross bar 32 adapted to engage the downwardly set index pins I'I, I9. Excepting the pence bar I5, the highest value pin in any bar is the r9 pin and before said general operator cross bar encounters such 9 pin in its forward stroke, it has an idle period of movement that aifords time to mesh the computing pinions either with the racks I4 or idlers I5.

The pence bar I6 has 10 and 11 index pins that stand in ordinal order behind the 9 pins of the other bars so that, in effect, the idle period of advance of the general operator cross bar 32 itself with respect to the pence bar is substantially reduced. A device is provided whereby the general operator cross bar has substantially the same minimum idle period with respect to the pence b-ar I6 as it has with respect to the other bars I8. It follows that the general operator encounters such 9 and 11 pins simultaneously and thereupon has a remaining stroke of only nine steps and during such remaining stroke, the pence bar must be advanceable through the general operator up to eleven steps of movement.

There is associated, therefore, with the general operator cross bar, a pence bar engaging medium in the form of an auxiliary bar 35 generally similar to the pence bar and mounted to move alongside of the latter in the guides 20, 2I. Said auxiliary bar 35 has a rack 36 which meshes with a gear sector arm 37 of a lever 39 fulcrumed on a rod 49 mounted in brackets 4I on the general operator cross bar 32. A downwardly extending arm 42 of said lever 39 is offset from the gear sector arm 3'! by a hub 43.

The lever 39 and auxiliary bar 35 move along with the general operator cross bar 32 and said lever 39 is rockable relatively to said cross bar 32 to advance the auxiliary bar 35 and the pence bar I relatively to said general operator cross bar 32, said auxiliary bar 35 having a lateral projection 44 to engage any set index pin I 'I of the pence bar.

A bar 45 is mounted adjacent the path of the lever arm 42 and presents a cam track 45, said arm 42 having a cam track following roller 4'I. The cam track bar 45 is stationarily supported by a mortise connection 48 at its rear end, Figure 5, to a plate 4S attached to the framework, and by a slot connection 50, Figures 1 and 6, at its front end, to a rock shaft 5I of the machine, said rock shaft having collars 52 to hold said bar laterally. The slot connection 50 may permit said rock shaft 5I to rock freely. It will be obvious that the connections 48, 50 may be adapted to hold the har stationary endwise.

In the normal positions of the parts, Figure 2, the lever 39 stands so that an edge 53 of its arm 'I stands away from a stop surface 54 of the general operator 'cross bar 32. In said normal positions, .the front edge of the lateral projection 44 of the auxiliary bar 35 is slightly behind the 11 pin of the pence bar IS, said pin being shown in Figure 2 as having been set downwardly into the path of said projection 44.

For each of the other bars I8, the fulcrum rod on the general operator cross bar 32 mounts a lever presenting a finger 51 for engaging .the index pins I 9.

During an initial period of the general operator advance stroke which brings the general operator cross bar 32 to the position, Figure 3, the lever 39 and its gear sector` arm 3l' may rock idly relatively to the auxiliary bar 35 until the edge 53 of said arm 31 abuts the stop surface 54 of the general operator cross bar 32. After such idle rocking of the lever 39, the latter carries the auxiliary bar forward until the front edge of its lateral projection 44 encounters the depressed 11 pin of the pence bar I5 at the conclusion of the idle period as indicated in Figure 3. When the lateral projection 44 encounters the 11 index pin as in Figure 3, the fingers 5'! for the other bars I8 will have encountered such of the 9 index pins of the other bars as may have been depressed. During the movement of the lever 39 from the Figure 2 to the Figure 3 position, its roller 4l will have moved down an incline 58 of the cam track 45 so that it is positioned at the bottom of said incline as in Figure 3. Thereafter the general operator cross bar 32 has a remaining extent of advance of nine steps. In order to convert said nine steps into an eleven step range of movement of the pence bar I5, the auxiliary bar 35 is gradually advanced ahead of the general operator cross bar 32 to the extent of two steps. This is effected in that, durin'g said nine steps of advance of the cross bar 32, an upward incline 59 of the cam track bar acts upon the roller 4l of the lever 99 to rock the latter counter-clockwise from the Figure 3 position to the Figure 4 position relatively to the general operator cross bar B2, so that said lever 39, acting through its gear sector 3T and the rack 36, advances the auxiliary bar 35, and the pence bar I6, two steps ahead of the general operator cross bar 32.

As the lever 39 reaches its Figure 4 position consonantly with the completion of the advance of the general operator cross bar S2 and the normal extra advance of the pence bar I5, an edge 60 of its arm 42 meets a roller EI mounted on a lever 52 fulcrumed on a stationary rod 53 supported in the framework. Said lever 62 forms part of a carry-over train extending from and conditionable under control of the farthings wheel I0 to cause said lever E2 to be rocked counter-clockwise from the Figure 4 position to the Figure '7 position, thereby bringing the roller 6I thereon to the Figure 7 position and causing a still further rocking of the lever 39 to the Figure 7 position to effect an additional advance of the auxiliary bar 35 and hence effect a carryover step of advance of the pence bar I5 in addition to its normal extra advance ahead of the general operator cross bar 32. The carry-over mechanism, up to the lever B2, and its operation are substantially like in my aforesaid Patent No. 1,927,951. It will be perceived that during additional, carry-over rocking of the lever 39 to the Figure 7 position, its roller 4l is free to move away from the cam track 46.

At the beginning of the return stroke of the general operator cross bar 32, the computing wheels ISI-I3 are caused to be disengaged from the racks I4 or idlers l5 before said cross-bar starts to return the register bars I6 and I8. During said return of the general operator cross bar 32, the carry-over train is caused to be restored to its normal position thereby restoring the lever 62 from the Figure 7 position to the Figure 4 position. During the nal part of the return stroke of the general operator cross bar 32, the roller 41 may encounter the incline 58 of the cam track 46 and nally come to rest in a corner 64 at the end of said incline, Wherefore the lever 39 is restored to its Figure 2 position relatively to the cross bar 32. Said corner serves to maintain said lever 39 and auxiliary bar 35 in normal positions While the general operator cross bar 32 is in its normal position.

It will be seen that the incline 59 of the cam track 46 is adapted to rotate the lever 39 gradually during the nine step advance of the general operator cross bar 32 thereby imparting the normal extra two step advance of the pence bar I6 gradually so that at the time said pence bar is arrested in the Figure 4 position its speed of movement is not excessive.

Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention, and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

What is claimed is:

The combination with a reciprocatory computing-Wheel-drive rack having digit-pins settable to determine the extent of movement of the rack, a reciprocatory operator for said rack, a lever on said operator, a pin-engager operatively connected to said lever, said operator, lever and pin-engager having an effective range of rackactuating advance, in unison, less than the determined movement of said rack, of a stationary member presenting a camming-edge substantially coextensive with said range, said lever having a follower engaging said camming-edge to translate the operator-advance over said range into gradual operation of said lever and hence into gradual advance of said pin-engager ahead of said operator to make up for said lesser advance of said operator.

HENRY L. PITMAN. 

